Depression is a mood disorder that seriously affects your daily activities by making you very low in energy, insecure and aggressive, which affects your health. Depressive episodes will make you cry, sad, and feel hopeless, but remember, and everyone faces this kind of situation atleast once in their lifetime. Â
But one who is dealing with depression will have sadness, Low self-esteem daily. That should be immediately treated with the help of a doctor. Untreated depression will harm you by leading you to develop suicidal thoughts etc.Â
In the US, 1 in 10% of Adults faces depression, affecting their ability in school, college, and the workplace. Moreover, 16.39% of adults reported major depressive disorder.Â
There are several antidepressants available to treat your condition, Like drug Prozac is widely used and a very effective drug to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety, and other conditions. Let us see about the drug in detail.
Prozac or fluoxetine is a widely prescribed drug in the US for treating antidepressants. More than 28 million Americans use Prozac. It helps treat depressive episodes by stimulating certain chemicals in the brain cells. The Food and drug administration approved the drug to treat adults and children with depression.Â
Moreover, it helps treat your unusual moods, sleep patterns, and appetite and restores your daily activities. It is widely used in conditions like Major depressive disorder, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Migraine headache, Fibromyalgia, Generalised anxiety disorder, Panic disorder, and Bulimia nervosa.
Prozac is an Antidepressant drug belonging to Selective serotonin Reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that usually work by increasing the level of neurotransmitters. It works by inhibiting the reabsorption in the serotonin level, which is the chemical in the brain that helps regulate mood, behavior, digestion, sleep mem, Sexual Desire, and other functions.
A low level of serotonin will result in depression, and the low level should be treated in affected patients. Prozac is very effective at treating serotonin levels, which helps manage depression and anxiety. It was the most prescribed drug in the US. It can be used in children over the age of 10.
The active ingredient, Fluoxetine, is absorbed in the gut after taking the drug. It is metabolized in the liver and converted to norfluoxetine metabolites via demethylation.
Fluoxetine's mental health advantages, like those of most antidepressants, do not appear immediately after therapy begins. Some people may show changes as soon as two weeks after starting treatment, but it usually takes 4-6 weeks to manifest the total mental health benefits.
Prozac (Fluoxetine) stays in your system for 25 days after an individual stops taking the drug. However, prescription drugs are only 99%out of the system.
If a patient takes Prozac for over 22 days, specific metabolites are excreted into the system. Depending on other factors, these secretions will take around 22 to 82 and a half days to be eliminated from your body. 80% of the drug is excreted through urine.
Prozac is not usually standard for urine, hair, or blood tests. On the other hand, special test kits can be used to check for the presence of Prozac in various tissue samples.
Urine tests from Prozac users have revealed detectable levels up to 96 days after their previous medication.
Blood samples from people who had been on Prozac for a long time proved positive for the drug even 96 days after they stopped it.
There is inadequate evidence defining how long Fluoxetine can be found in the saliva due to a lack of study.
Fluoxetine is undetectable in hair samples. As a result, the drug in the hair has no detection time.
Half-life refers to the time taken by a drug to reduce the number of active ingredients present in your blood in half. Fluoxetine has a half-life of roughly 2 to 7 days; norfluoxetine has a half-life of 4 to 15 days. Fluoxetine remains in the system for approximately 2 to 3 months after the last dose when nor-Fluoxetine is wholly eliminated.
A study on the pharmacokinetics of Fluoxetine found that Fluoxetine is well absorbed after oral administration, has a high protein binding rate, and has an extensive distribution volume. The half-life of Fluoxetine is 1 to 4 days, while the half-life of its metabolite, norfluoxetine, is 7 to 15 days.
Fluoxetine interacts with several other medications. The blood concentrations of antipsychotics and antidepressants were enhanced when Fluoxetine was given repeatedly.
Another study on the half-life of Fluoxetine and its metabolite norFluoxetine found that the half-lives of Fluoxetine and norfluoxetine were 1116 hours and 2129 hours, respectively. Even after a single fluoxetine dose, functionally significant blood concentrations of norfluoxetine were detected at 24 hours. Norfluoxetine accounted for the more substantial percentage of active substances in the bloodstream, as observed in people under steady-state settings.
The stay of Prozac depends on various factors, such as how long you have been taking it. And how much have you been taking? Other factors that influence the stay of Prozac are:
The metabolites released when taking Prozac (norfluoxetine) will take 22 to 82 days to empty the patient's system.
There are two types of side effects that a person can suffer from. Some of the side effects turn into adverse effects on your health. It depends on various factors.
| Common side effects | Severe Side Effects |
| Headache | Mania/hypomania |
| Weakness | Skin rashes |
| Fever | Seizure |
| Diarrhea | Difficult to urinate |
| Indigestion | Tremor |
| Dizziness | Fast heartbeats |
If you experience the above, you must visit your doctor immediately and take the necessary measures.
Before using the medication, inform your doctor about your medical condition and the medication history or if you have any allergies to the drug. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, tell your doctor about some of the complications listed below.Â
Prozac may interact with other drugs, such as MAOIs, antipsychotic drugs, and antidepressants. Some of the interaction will lead to side effects of internal bleeding and seizures. So before taking the medication, consult your doctor about your medical history.
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Some of the Serious drug interactions are:
While taking medications like NSAIDs, aspirin, and warfarin will interfere with Prozac and increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding in your system.
Avoid taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, fentanyl, tramadol, buspirone, and the level of serotonin syndrome when consumed with Prozac.Â
Avoid therapies because they cause sudden prolongation and develop seizure attacks.
Medications like carbamazepine, phenytoin, Â and oxcarbazepine can cause anticonvulsant toxicity while taken with Prozac.Â
It causes adverse effects on the users of Person consuming Marijuana, muscle relaxers, codeine, or alcohol.
We understand the Drug Prozac; it is an antidepressant drug that belongs to a group of Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. It is safe and effective to treat depression, anxiety, and other disorders. The drug can have some adverse effects due to the ideal thoughts in people.
Some drug interactions should be discussed before taking the drug because taking this drug with the Monoamine oxidase inhibitors group of drugs will be very harmful to you while consumed together.
If you wish to discontinue the drug, contact your doctor and stop using the medicine because your doctor will help you to overcome this withdrawal effect by reducing the dosage.
